gettin' around

Even though I've grown up visiting Japan my whole life and I have a mother who has maintained a good Japanese culture in the home, there are still things that I do here that I'm pretty sure are taboo that I'm just still not aware of. Such as...NOT pushing the "close" button on the elevator once everyone is in, sitting next to the elderly on the bus, and throwing plates on the ground at Starbucks and having them shatter.

Here's a little JAPAN 101 for you, friends:

Push the CLOSE button on elevator

I guess us lazy Americans are totally complacent with waiting for the elevator doors to shut on their own timing rather than bothering to waste the energy in using the close button. Or this could just be me. My bad, peeps, my bad.

Don't sit next to elderly on bus

I got on a bus and the only open seats were next to people. There weren't any empty rows. So I sat next to a tender, old lady ONLY because she scooted over as if making room for me. But at the other stops when people would get on, they preferred to stand in the aisle than sit next to someone. I just wanted to snuggle, is that too much to ask for???

Don't throw plate on floor at Starbucks

Yep, that happened. There's only so much this 5'9," fair colored, light skinned, American can do to fit in in this country. Cut me some slack, kids!

So if you folks ever find yourself visiting Japan and are glared at, shunned, or nunchucked, you have me to thank for giving foreigners a bad name. My apologies in advance.

Bus schedule for my hood

The bus is gradually becoming a good friend of mine here. I get on and it's usually populated by the Japanese elderly. I wait at the stop, I see the bus pull up and through the windows it looks pretty empty. I get on and it's filled with these precious gems of wisdom who I'm pretty sure wouldn't meet the height requirement for the It's a Small World ride at Disneyland. Their salon done hair barely grazes the bottom of the window sill which leads to the misconception of an empty bus. So it's a bus full of Asian Elderly Sweetness, and me, a big American...a big American with big dreams. :)

The river that runs right along the house I live at